YONKERS, N.Y. – A Yonkers development project is drawing concerns from outside the city limits.

Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner and members of the town board will meet with Yonkers officials early next month to discuss proposed plans to build on a lot at Austin Avenue and Prior Place.

Feiner said Wednesday he is concerned that the $115 million plan, which would transform the area off Interstate-87 into three large retail stores and a 400-unit residential building, has the potential to increase traffic problems in the town.

“I would like them to consider the impact it is going to have on other neighborhoods,” Feiner said. “We are trying to figure out what we could do to make this the best-case scenario for the town.”

The plan of Morris Industrial Builder, a New Jersey-based developer, is currently in the process of being reviewed by the Yonkers Planning Board. If approved, it would bring 255,000 square feet of retail space, said to be Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods and a Marshall’s store, to Yonkers’ Austin Avenue.

Feiner said the main source of concern for traffic impacts is along Jackson Avenue and Route 9A in Ardsley and Hastings. Ideally, the supervisor said, he would like to see the plan downsized or Greenburgh receive financial support to make road improvements.

“At the end of the day, we may not win everything we want, but we want to make sure quality of life for Greenburgh residents does not go down,” he said.

Feiner said the town has not had much luck in the past when it attempted to influence previous developments on the Greenburgh-Yonkers border.

The town filed litigation against the city during the Ridge Hill development project and was able to secure $5 million for road improvements from developers in a settlement. The town also sued when Stew Leonard’s and Costco opened near the Greenburgh border.

“In the past, we litigated and got nowhere,” Feiner said. “So we’re taking a different tactic than we did in the past and trying to work cooperatively with Yonkers.”

Greenburgh’s supervisor isn’t the only one with concerns about the development.

In January, Frederick Weaver, president of Yonkers’ Nepera Park-Grey Oaks Neighborhood Association, said nearby homeowners dealt with rat infestations and disruptions to water service during the development of a nearby Stew Leonard's store.

“Every time they do something up there, people around here, they suffer,” Weaver said.

Feiner said Yonkers officials will meet with the Greenburgh Town Board during a work session March 12 at 10:30 a.m. to discuss the project. A day later, the Yonkers Planning Board has scheduled a scoping session for the project at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.

Comments (2)

Maybe Feiner will stop the nonsense with Town Board meetings going to 2AM to accommodate the pre-meeting campaigning because he'll be forced to wake up earlier with the construction noise that he subjects everyone else to. If that doesn't work, maybe the late night noise from the apartments will keep him from sleeping and he can send out more emails that nobody’s interested in.